How to help

To donate to Andy Barela's medical expenses, go to everribbon.com and search for "Andy G. Barela Fund" under the ribbon directory tab.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Times-Call's series Take Two revisits people we have written about in the past year. Take Two stories will run on Mondays.

LONGMONT -- The cancer is mostly under control, but now former Niwot High School custodian Andy Barela is battling a different health issue.

Since May, the 47-year-old Longmont man has been in and out of the hospital because of septic shock, a serious infection he developed after doctors removed his ostomy bag.

"It's a journey God gave me and I just go with the journey," he said Friday morning, while recovering at Good Samaritan Medical Center from surgery an hour earlier to reinstall tubes to drain parts of his body.

In March 2011, Barela was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. After he ran out of vacation and sick days, he was laid off.

Former Niwot High School custodian Andy Barela, who battled cancer late throughout 2011, has been in and out of the hospital since May due to septic shock. Friday morning he underwent more surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette.
(Lewis Geyer/Times-Call)

Before Christmas 2011, students from Niwot High's International Baccalaureate program presented the family with $6,000 to help with medical expenses.

Even now, students write encouraging messages on his Facebook wall, and staff still stop by the family's Longmont home occasionally to drop off meals.

"A teacher just made me lasagna last week," Barela said.

Though he is now on Medicaid, Barela's wife, Mary, hasn't found work since last summer, when she lost her job because of the time off she took to care for her husband.

Barela estimates that his medical expenses total more than $20,000. Friends have helped him start a campaign on EverRibbon.com to raise funds. As of Friday afternoon, $170 had been raised toward the $15,000 goal.

Last December, Barela said he hoped to get back to work by this June. His eldest son, Andrew Barela, has since been hired in his dad's place as Niwot High's night lead custodian.

"I had one girl look at me and she said, 'You have to be related to Andy,' and I said, 'That's my dad,' and, right away, she started asking about how he's doing," said Andrew, 22.

The younger Barela said staff and students have taken to calling him "Andy's boy" or "little Andy." He added that when his dad is well enough, he's looking forward to working alongside him.

Andy Barela said he'll keep fighting to get healthy and return to Niwot High. He said he feels stronger and has grown closer to his family through the ordeal. He calls his latest issues "a bump in the road."

Andrew Balera, 22, the lead night custodian at Niwot High School, is the son of Andy Balera, 47, who held the same job there before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2011. Because of his job, Andrew Barela can help his mother and father financially.
(Lewis Geyer/Times-Call)

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